A filter bag collects debris that is removed from household surfaces by a vacuum cleaner. A mounting collar on the filter bag has an opening that provides access to the interior of the bag. The bag is removably mounted on a vacuum cleaner fill tube by insertion of the fill tube through the opening in the collar.
The present invention is an apparatus for mounting a vacuum cleaner filter bag on a vacuum cleaner fill tube. The apparatus comprises a filter bag panel configured to be grasped by a hand to mount the bag on the fill tube. An inner edge of the panel defines an opening for receiving the fill tube when the bag is mounted on the fill tube. The panel further has an outer edge. A first recessed section of the outer edge is sized and shaped to receive a single finger of the hand when the hand grasps the panel. The first recessed section has a first innermost location. A second recessed section of the outer edge is sized and shaped to receive the thumb of the hand when the hand grasps the panel. The second recessed section has a second innermost location. These innermost locations are spaced apart from each other along an imaginary straight line extending across the opening.
Preferably, the outer edge has an array of recessed sections comprising the first recessed section and other recessed sections. The recessed sections of the array are sized, shaped and located to receive corresponding fingers of the hand when the hand grasps the panel. The array of recessed sections is defined by an undulating contour of the outer edge.
The array is a first array, and each recessed section in the first array has an innermost location. The outer edge further has a second array of recessed locations comprising the second recessed section and other recessed sections. The recessed sections in the second array are sized, shaped and located to receive corresponding fingers of an opposite hand when the opposite hand grasps the panel. Each recessed section in the second array has an innermost location. Each innermost location of the second array is spaced apart from each innermost location of the first array along an imaginary straight line extending across the opening.
The inner edge has a circular portion centered on an axis. A third recessed section of the outer edge is sized and shaped to receive another finger of the hand when the hand grasps the panel. The third section has a third innermost location. The first, second and third innermost locations define the three corners of a triangle that encompasses the axis.
The opening has a notch. A projection of the fill tube can pass through the notch as the bag is mounted on the fill tube when the notch is circumferentially aligned with the projection. The projection can subsequently capture the panel on the fill tube after rotation of the panel about the fill tube to move the notch circumferentially out of alignment with the projection.
In another feature of the panel, the outer edge has top and bottom edge portions extending across the width of the panel. The outer edge further has first and second opposite side edge portions extending along the height of the panel. The first side edge portion has a recessed section that is sized and shaped to receive a single finger or thumb of the hand when the hand grasps the panel. The recessed section has an innermost location that is located such that the inner edge extends both above and below the innermost location.